Patrick Kielty scores strongest RTE Player Late Late Show opening

Patrick Kielty’s first Late Late Show scored the strongest performance for the long-running show’s opening on RTE Player.

The Co Down man entered history on Friday as only the fourth presenter of the show since it started in 1962.

Viewers from across Ireland and the globe tuned in to watch Kielty make his debut, with a show that included Tommy Tiernan, former president Mary McAleese and footballer James McClean.

On Monday RTE said the show had an average audience of 830,000 on RTE One and RTE One +1, with a 62% audience share.

A peak audience of 934,000 tuned in, and RTE Player has had 158,000 streams of Friday night’s show, making it the strongest Late Late Show opening that service.

There was a 65% audience share among adults aged 25-44.

On social media, videos posted on Late Late Show accounts have amassed 7.6 million views since September 1.

Kielty, 52, follows Ryan Tubridy as the Late Late Show host. Tubridy stood down earlier this year.

Following his exit from the show, Tubridy found himself at the heart of the scandal at RTE when the broadcaster disclosed it had not correctly declared his fees between 2017 and 2022, when he was the highest-earning presenter.

The furore around the payments became a wider crisis for the national broadcaster, amid further disclosures about RTE’s internal financial, accounting and governance practices and its expenditure on corporate hospitality for advertising clients.